Surprising Love (Okay, I suck at titles)
by HottnessesGirl
Summary: Same character as my previous story, "I hate making up titles", no connection to that story. Starts at Rafe's "death", new romance for Danny after he heals, the attack. Pretty good, I think. Please R&R!


Pearl Harbor Rewrite II  
  
"Surprising Love"  
  
Love Story with Danny and a new character, action and adventure and sadness of Dec. 7. A good read, same main character as "I hate making up Titles", my previous, but NO connection to that story. PG-13 for language.  
  
Same character as "I hate making up titles", my previous. Setting is the day after Ev stitched up Dorie Miller, at night. "I hate making up titles" is NOT a sequel to this. They are two totally diff. stories, and one does not happen with the other, even though it is the same main character.  
  
I was leaning back on my bed in the nurses quarters, only half awake, the radio playing low in the background. I yawned sleepily and rolled over, considering whether or not to turn off the light, but deciding I was too sleepy to actually take the physical effort of standing up and walking across the room. Ev or Betty would turn it off for me when they got back from the Hula-ha. I was suddenly aware of footsteps. Figuring it was one of the girls back early, I didn't open my eyes. Ev probably. She was the only one who never went to the parties. I usually did, but was far too tired tonight. I listened to the footsteps cross the room and realized they were most definitely not high-heels. They were far too heavy. I felt a masculine hand shake my shoulder gently.  
  
"Katie?"  
  
The voice was heavy and tired-sounding. It was Danny's. Wondering what he was doing in the nurses' quarters, I opened my eyes. He looked terrible, his eyes laden with grief and his whole body sagging. Anxiously, I reached for my glasses and slid them on, looking up at him.  
  
"Danny? What's wrong? You look awful!"  
  
"I just got a telegram," Danny said, avoiding my eyes. I was surprised at this. Danny was shy with most girls, but my masculine attitude towards most things not romantic, usually set him at ease. Indeed, he was as comfterable with me as with any of the guys, usually meeting my eyes square.  
  
"From England," he finished.  
  
I froze, knowing what this must be. The stricken look in his eyes confirmed it.  
  
"Aw, damn . . ." I gasped softly. I felt tears well up in my eyes and spill over silently. Danny and I slid towards each other slightly and I embraced him. I could tell he was trying not to cry. I could tell he was embarrassed at the need to hold someone. I didn't say anything, guys' egos were so frail, but simply held him. We stayed that way for a long time, trying to come to terms with our grief.  
  
I barely saw Danny after that for a long time. Ev, of course, I saw often. I had know Rafe and Danny longer than she, and though I had not loved either of them, they were as close to me as buddies as Ev was to Rafe as his girl. The two of us grieved together. It was I who first took the initiative to move on, insisting that Ev join me at a few of the parties. Her heart wasn't in it, but I knew with time she would move on.  
  
I was worried about Danny. All I knew from Red and the other pilots was that he was in the air more time than he was on the ground, training for endless hours and that he was never out to eat or drink. Anthony privately told me the last time he'd seen him, he was real thin looking and downfaced. About a month after Rafe's death, I knew I had to do something about it. Danny had always been real low-key with how he felt, keeping things bottled up. Men would be men, I supposed, but I knew he was only hurting himself at this point. I drove out to Earl's strip early one morning and armed with two mugs of strong, black coffee, I waited for him. He showed up about six thirty, with half a week's beard on him and tired eyes that didn't register me off to the side until I said his name.  
  
"Danny?"  
  
He turned, surprise on his face.  
  
"Katie? What are you doing here?"  
  
"Looking for you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You haven't showed up for the past month. I've been worried about you."  
  
"Just loggin' a lot of flight hours," he said, looking shifty.  
  
"Look, Danny, you gotta quit beatin' yourself up. You look like hell. When was the last time you had a good shower and a meal? You're gonna kill yourself up in that airplane cause you're so tired."  
  
He only mumbled, "I wish."  
  
"Come on Danny, you don't mean that."  
  
"You think?" Danny was usually so soft-spoken, I had never heard that bitter note in his voice before.  
  
"Sweetie, come with me and go get some breakfast." I handed him the mug of coffee, but he pushed my hand away.  
  
"Danny, you're scaring me."  
  
"Just let me fly, ok?" He said, almost angrily. I looked him in the eye and said softly,  
  
"Then will you take me up with you?"  
  
What I felt like Danny needed right now was not to be left alone. I really was scared about him and maybe he would loosen up in the air.  
  
He shrugged and set off for the hanger. He filled out a log, and the two of us climbed in a plane. I sat between his legs and he steered under my arms. He was stiff, whereas before Rafe had died, I could sit in his lap when we flew together easily, without this tenseness I felt now. I didn't say anything while we were up in the air. He began to relax a little and when he dipped down out of the clouds for a landing, I said,  
  
"Danny, don't refuel. Come get some breakfast with me."  
  
He sighed, looked at the plane, then back at me.  
  
"Sure."  
  
He went automatically to a little diner where the other pilots never went. I tried to get him engaged in conversation, doing the best I could to keep him focused. He talked leadenly, until I said sharply,  
  
"Danny. Snap out of it. Talk to me."  
  
"What? About what?" He was surprised.  
  
"Come on," I said. "You're killing yourself. Evelyn's moved on, and so have I. You need to." I let my voice soften, for he was looking down at the table.  
  
"Rafe's not coming back and you need to face that." I reached across the table and put my hand over his clenched fist.  
  
"I know," he said, softly. "God, you think I don't?" His eyes came up to meet mine, pain-wracked and hurt that I Was trying to probe something out of him that he didn't want to think about.  
  
"I know you do," I said quietly. "But you're hurting yourself."  
  
"He volunteered."  
  
I couldn't tell why he said that. Just that it was troubling him.  
  
"I know," I said, my eyes sympathetic.  
  
I saw Danny more after that. He pulled himself into some semblance of normal life, much to the guys' happiness and mine. It was two weeks or so after when he asked me out to dinner at a little restaurant. I had said "sure" smilingly and we had enjoyed a quiet dinner. He walked me home. As we stood on the front step, I dropped down to pick up a telegram on the ground. I slit it open with a fingernail; there was no name on it, so I assumed it was for all of the nurses. I scanned it and froze.  
  
"Oh my God."  
  
"What?" Danny looked concerned. I turned to him wonderingly.  
  
"He's alive. Rafe's alive." Danny snatched the telegram out of my hands.  
  
"God thank god," Danny mumbled.  
  
I yawned. It was early morning. I looked at my clock -- 6:30. I realized that I'd only been asleep for about three hours -- the party for Rafe's return had gone on far into the early morning hours. I grinned, filled with happiness, remembering the evening. Evelyn hadn't been able to keep her hands off him, the two of them had sat in one chair the whole evening, alternately talking and kissing. Danny had been so happy. I smiled and got up to have a long cup of coffee, some breakfast, and read yesterday's newspaper, which I hadn't had time to touch before. It was a lazy morning, until I heard the low rumble of engines, becoming louder and louder. What were they doing practicing this early on a Sunday? Confused, I stood up and walked outside. The engines were now deafening. The planes we so low down and so close --  
  
"Aw, shit," I almost yelled. Jap planes. I looked to the harbor to see flames shooting up. "AW SHIT!" I raced inside and shook the girls awake. "EVERYBODY TO THE HOSPITLE!" I screamed at them and grabbed a phone up, dialing several smaller air bases, to tell them to get planes in the air. But, oh god -- the phones were out. I raced outside, grabbing my shotgun on the way, and dashed for the car.  
  
"Girls, you're gonna hafta walk!" I yelled as I exited. I revved the engine and tore down the road, buzzing as many of the air bases as possible. I was moving to my farthest one out, Earl's. I had always liked Earl. He didn't take anything he didn't like about life and shared the same passion as I did for double-barreled pump shot guns as I did.  
  
I reached the base at the same time McCrawley and Walker did. I could hear Rafe yelling,  
  
"Danny, you just get me into a goddammed plane."  
  
I leaped out of my car, screaming,  
  
"EARL! EARL!"  
  
He trotted out of the hanger.  
  
"What?!" he yelled. Earl always yelled.  
  
"You got planes ready?"  
  
"What the hell?! Now?!"  
  
"I think World War II just started!" Danny hollered and all four of us dashed for the hanger. Earl didn't ask any further questions.  
  
There was a sudden whir of engines over head. Earl and I both shouldered our guns as the planes flew over. Several empty shells later, we had the other guys yelling,  
  
"Earl! Katie! Get in here! We're gonna need more than a shot gun!"  
  
"How many you got ready?" I asked Earl as we ran back in the hanger.  
  
"I got four on the ground. One's good to go, one needs fuel, and two need ammo!"  
  
"What about that B-25?"  
  
"She's down, she's broke, she's shit," he said and ran for some fuel cans.  
  
"Danny! Where's the gear?" I called to him.  
  
"I need more ammo, I need more ammo, Ladies!" Earl was yelling to some other pilots who'd just arrived. The whole scene was barely controlled chaos. Danny, Rafe, and I were unquestionably the best pilots there and we loaded up along with Joe.  
  
Joe didn't even get off the runway. Danny and Rafe, flying like cropdusters, low to the ground, zigzagging, got off the ground fine and I followed once the Japs had disappeared after them. In my headset, I could hear Rafe yelling at Earl to get some guns in the tower. I rose up high in the air and yelled,  
  
"Rafe! Danny! I'm up, where the hell are you?!"  
  
Rafe yelled something I couldn't understand, but I didn't need to because they both suddenly barreled around a building corner, low to the ground. I zipped up into a barrel roll and came around back of the Japs. It was a risky shot -- I might hit Rafe or Danny, but right now it was my only option. I fired quickly and two of the planes spun out into a deadly spiral towards the ground.  
  
"Whoo--hoo!" I shrieked into my headpiece.  
  
"Danny, let's play some chicken with these Jap suckers!" I heard Rafe say, and grinned. The rush was short lived, because I realized suddenly I had a zero right on my six.  
  
"EARL? You got guns in that tower?!" I hollered.  
  
"It's ten stories up! It's a long sonovabith!" He yelled back.  
  
"How long!"  
  
"'bout a minute!"  
  
"Well, I got one on my tail, I'm gonna bring him Riiiiight by you!"  
  
I shot by the tower and there was a volley of shots that brought him down.  
  
"Katie! Battleship row! The Harbor!" Rafe yelped at me.  
  
I rolled through the air in the direction of the harbor.  
  
"Let's show 'em how it's done boys!" I yelled. "We ain't goin'a let these sonsabitches get home!  
  
"Right on you!" Danny hollered.  
  
We made six trips back and forth from the harbor that day -- flying and fighting, then returning for fuel and ammo. It was a rush that left me shaking. When we were out of fuel and ammo even on the ground, everyone on the strip loaded into the car and raced towards Harbor. Black smoke and wreckage was everywhere. There were men trapped everywhere in the Harbor. It was a scene I will not soon forget.  
  
Almost two weeks had passed since the attack. I was lying on the beach, looking up, thinking, trying to exorcise the attack from my mind for just a few moments. I was being unsuccessful. Suddenly, I was staring straight into Danny Walker's eyes, much to my surprise.  
  
"Danny! I didn't hear you walk up!"  
  
"Pleased to see you, too," he said, laughingly.  
  
"Sorry," I grinned, a grin which faded quickly.  
  
"What's up?" He said, sitting down beside me, as I sat up. I didn't answer, not needing to. He nodded.  
  
I leaned up against him, a gesture which surprised him. He looked at me a long time, quietly.  
  
"We're gonna be in the war," I said.  
  
"I know. We'll be shipped out somewhere."  
  
"Danny --" I was cut off as he suddenly, compulsively pressed his lips against mine. I was startled but returned the kiss willingly. He wrapped his arms around me, and we lay that way for a long time. For the time being, I forgot December 7. When we finally pulled apart, he softly said,  
  
"God, you're pretty."  
  
It was Rafe's line, but neither of us knew that.  
  
"Katie, if we get shipped out --"  
  
"I know," I said, softly.  
  
"He looked down and said,  
  
"I love you."  
  
I was going to answer him, but he kissed me again. I was surprised at my own emotions. I had been kissed before, been in love before, but fate had intervened, breaking it off of no fault of either parties. I had pushed love out of my mind, wanting to leave love something sacred I would reserved for Rick, whether or not I saw him again. I hadn't thought I could feel like this for anyone but him. I realized I was clinging to Danny in a way that must have seemed as frightened as I really was, about Pearl, about falling in love again.  
  
"It'll be okay," Danny said, his lips only inches from mine. He rested them in my hair, and stroked my back. It would be ok, thought. With boys like Danny and Rafe and the rest of the pilots in our army, air force, and navy, how could it not be? America would prevail. And the way I knew Danny, what we had been through -- how could falling in love not be safe?  
  
The End 


End file.
